Paper Mario - Social

An Elaborate Setup

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Yesterday I spent a bunch more time than I thought I would trying to take my own passport photos so I wouldn't have to pay someone to do it for me. I learned many things:

- I am very, very rarely happy with a picture that is taken of me straight on. Unfortunately, that is what most forms of ID demand from us.

- Trying to take advantage of natural light and artificial light in pictures is way harder than I thought it would be (suddenly, Tyra Banks asking people to "find the light" doesn't seem so ridiculous)

- Taking self portraits, even with a point-and-shoot with custom controls and a timer, is challenging

- Having someone else there to help direct me would have made this way easier

- Taking pictures at super close range can result in really unsettling eyeball reflections of both the light source and the light from the phone you're using as a "mirror" to help with posing

- A lack of a proper tripod is something that can be solved with an ironing board and a handful of large-box board games, like so:https://i.imgur.com/gnvl0BM.jpg

On that last point, I was really happy with this setup and it actually let me take a few good pictures, both for passport purposes and for social media/profile picture purposes.

I'm wondering if anyone has had to make an "elaborate setup" that may or may not have been improvised to fulfill a certain purpose? I've used friend's shoulders, stacks of rocks, and other stable surfaces for tripod substitutes before, but this was the first time I combined an ironing board and some board games for that purpose. Having white walls and adequate lighting in my bedroom was also a plus to use as a backdrop.

"Sa taong walang takot, walang mataas na bakod.""To those without fear, there is no such thing as a tall fence." - Filipino Proverb

Oh yeah, I know exactly why they do the front-on picture and that's all well and good, but it was sort of torturous to get a picture that was even passable for those standards.

When I was getting my driver's license renewed, the lady taking the pictures redid mine twice, and on the third picture she said "That will do" which of course gave me no confidence that the picture would turn out well.

(It didn't.)

"Sa taong walang takot, walang mataas na bakod.""To those without fear, there is no such thing as a tall fence." - Filipino Proverb